A snapshot of Malop street Geelong

Geelong is a regional city which is around one hour from Melbourne's CBD.

This area was established early on in Victoria's colonial history, and was primarily set up for wool production. As the gold rush in Ballarat began in 1851, the town (Geelong was not declared a city until 1910) became increasingly important as the major port centre for the Ballarat gold mining regions. From the 1860s wool and manufacturing became the mainstay of the economy and remained strong and prosperous long after the gold at Ballarat had run out.

It was a combination of the riches from gold and the income from wool and manufacturing that enabled the construction of many grand buildings throughout the town, many of which are still present today.

A jumbled mixture of many architectural designs and eras are present throughout the CBD of Geelong, and generally represent high points in economic prosperity when money was available to build new structures, such as during the gold rush and the inter-war period. If you remember to glance up when you are out and about you will find that this is common to many towns, suburban shopping strips and cities in Victoria.

This post features a small snap shot of a few interesting buildings along Malop street. The Rushbrook's Pharmacy is a favourite of mine.


Love
Mosey x

Newman's Jewellers

Alstons Corner Building (1913), Collins and Elizabeth Street, Melbourne

I found another painted sign while walking around the city. When I took the photo I was unsure of the actual date, but the colour pallet and fading of the paint as well as the typesetting of the sign to me indicated it had some age to it. With a little bit of research I uncovered part of the story of the Newman's Jewellers sign.

Hand painted Newman's Jewellers sign, side of Alstons Corner

If you look really closely you can see there are two layers to the Newman's Jewellers sign. The link to this black and white photo shows you the original sign, which proudly reads Newman's Jewellers. Unfortunately I could not find a date for this photo but I assume it was taken not long after the sign was painted. If you look closely at the photo I took you can see the original type in red paint, and then a second layer on top which is indicating that they have relocated. Something like this is so easily missed or forgotten about, which in many ways is sad as Newman's Jewellers was a significant business during it's time.

Newman's Jewellers was founded in 1852. To put this into a historical perspective, this is one year after the beginning of the Victorian Gold Rush. It highlights how the city of Melbourne was built on the proceeds of gold, and that people flocked to the city to set up businesses and take advantage of this new found wealth. Obviously Newman's Jewellers was a solid business and was well regarded and trusted in the community as it was around for a long time. They moved from their location at Elizabeth street, where the sign is, to a location in Collins Street some time in 1930.

If you are interested here is a link to a digitised newspaper article from the 27th of June 1931, which makes reference to the Newman's business and explains it's standing and important place as a jewellery company in Melbourne.

It would be curious to see if any academic research has been done on this sign. Conservation research could uncover interesting things like the type of paint that was used and how many times it was repainted. But isn't it incredible that something of this age which has been exposed to the elements and left unprotected is still with us today?!?!

Love
Mosey x